- Wordy part three - 5th February 2025
- Wordy part two - 4th February 2025
- Branded - 3rd February 2025
During 23 years with the BBC, and a 41 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, words have been all-important, and now this is emphasised by new research about the meaning behind songs.
Song lyrics can be completely vacuous, but they can also have huge meaning if you listen carefully, and as a journalist this has always fascinated me.
Take for example ‘Unbelievable’ by EMF (which is a GREAT song incidentally!)
There are intriguing lines, especially: “You burden me with your questions
You’d have me tell no lies
You’re always asking what it’s all about
But don’t listen to my replies
You say to me I don’t talk enough
But when I do I’m a fool
These times I’ve spent, I’ve realised
I’m going to shoot through
And leave you”.
This is almost certainly about a boy having problems with his girlfriend, but it can also be viewed as the angst inherent in teenage love, notably: “You say to me I don’t talk enough. But when I do I’m a fool”.
Then there’s ‘Step on’ by The Happy Mondays, which is another brilliant song!
Listen carefully to what Shaun Ryder is singing, and the word he used even featured in a UK newspaper on Sunday.
“You’re twistin’ my melon man, you know you talk so hip man. You’re twistin’ my melon man”.
This is a colloquial expression that generally means someone is confusing or frustrating you, often by presenting contradictory information or by leading you to think about something in a complicated or unexpected way.
It can convey a sense of being overwhelmed or perplexed by someone’s actions or words. and became extremely popular in slang or street language in the 1990s.
But it isn’t simply ‘Indie’ rock bands that have hidden meanings in their song lyrics – more accessible pop music has them too.
Taylor Swift herself described her song ‘Fortnight’ as a “about a dramatic, artistic, tragic kind of take on love and loss“.
Jennifer Lopez’s “Can’t Get Enough appears to be about her and Ben Affleck.
The pair have had an on-off relationship, and got married in July 2022.
However, Ms Lopez filed for divorce on August 20, 2024.
The song seems to be when they were in the full flush of love.
So it is clear that some songs aren’t just bubble-gum pop, and you need to dig deep into the lyrics so you aren’t “twistin’ my melon man”…
The memories of Phil’s decades long award-winning career in journalism (when words were all important) as he was gripped by the incurable neurological condition, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
‘Wordy part four’ is tomorrow, where Phil explains some of the bizarre comments made by and to the emergency services during his career…
